Here, Here
by madden1010
Summary: What thoughts and conversations about Julian have passed since his sacrifice? One-Shot. After last book.


_***A.N. Hey everyone, this is set after the last book. I am hoping for it to be a one-shot. Read it, review it, recommend it, tell me what you think. Any criticism is welcome, along with any praise. Check out my other stories while you're here. I hope you enjoy it. Mariah xoxo**_

Jenny Thornton was never the same again. The thought that crossed her mind most frequently was not a question of time, place or any object. This thought was Julian.  
Not just how he'd watched her grow over the years, before she'd even been with Tom, until now. She often describes herself as a flower nowadays, starting to bud, to become Jenny Thornton, to being tall and proud, emitting utter beauty and radiance. Now, she is just a wilted flower, left without much-needed golden sunlight and crystalline water.

What has come of her in such a short amount of time? What does everyone think of her?

For those who didn't suffer the three games that Julian used to keep them on their toes and win over Jenny, she is still a beautiful flower. But she doesn't have that same modesty about her. She is also a bit mental, according to everyone but her closest friends, ever since that incident with the snake brushing against her leg, which everyone else thought to be just a computer cable.

Jenny often wonders what her life would now be like if she had just let PC and Slug catch up to her that evening? Would she be just the same old Jenny, a Jenny that had suffered the peril and torment of Julian? Or would Julian have found a way to get to her eventually, to catch her alone and unaware?

Or what would life be like if she had just surrendered to the boy with the strikingly blue eyes? Would she be living in a fairytale land in the shadow world? Would she have found a way to set her grandfather free and bring him back?

But then, she sits back and thinks for a while.  
Audrey and Michael would probably not be together anymore. Their romance was on the verge of extinction before being in the Tunnel of Love and Despair. They had beaten their despair that Julian hoped to separate them with, in order to resurrect their love.  
Zach rediscovered that there was more to life than photographs of empty rooms and people with expressionless faces. He discovered that his friends are really amazing people and worth fighting for, no matter what anyone thought.  
Tom realised that he was the only one that Jenny would ever want to be with. He got over all the ridiculous reasons that he had conjured up just to save Jenny from a life of unhappiness, and finally understood that Jenny loved him for who he was, and how much he loved her.  
Dee finally knew what it was to be so willing to give herself up. She learned to give up her tough facade whenever she needed to. Instead of launching herself into battle mode and keeping her guard up, she finally knew how good and refreshing it could feel to just let your emotions run.  
And Summer found out what it was like to be in a coma. Well, she sort of did. She found out the importance of not backing down in a dangerous situation, and also rediscovered her friends for who they really are. They had still kept looking for her just in case none of it was real, and she understood how much a person can mean to so many other people.

They had all found out so much about themselves. So should she be thanking Julian for teaching her to appreciate her friends and family? She had never imagined what'd be like to lose someone close and wondered how her parents would've reacted if her friends came out without her.

What if it had been Dee that Julian wanted? Or Audrey? Or even Summer? What if Julian was gay? Would he risk taking Tom? Or even Michael or Zach? How would she feel if she was in the position of her friends? Would she accept it if one of them chose to stay behind with Julian, just to save everyone else? Would she understand?

I guess she's never going to know. Jenny just sits and thinks, hoping that something like this will never happen to anyone again.

Jenny snaps out of heavy thinking mode, and looks straight ahead of her to see all of her friends examining each other while eating lunch in the school cafeteria.

"Do you think we'll ever forget this?" Ponders Summer, directing the question at Jenny.

"I don't know if I ever want to forget it. If I forget it, it's just going to cause me more pain to try to remember it again. And we've all changed so much since then. I don't think that it's going to be easy to forget." She responds. She looks at Tom to judge whether he's taken it the wrong way, like he has many times before.

"Jenny, do you think about Julian?" Tom asks her, hoping to get a final response from her.

"Yes, you know I do. I think about what would've happened to him if he didn't sacrifice himself. I think about what would've become of all of us if we didn't go through this. I feel like I should be thanking Julian. He's let us discover sides to us that we never knew we had." Jenny says thankfully.

"Here, here." Michael says, smiling a toothy smile at Jenny. "If it weren't for Julian, I probably wouldn't still be with Audrey. I love you, Audrey, and never want to lose you. Ever," He finishes romantically.

"I'll second you on that, babe," Audrey says, before kissing him full on the lips.

"Well, whatever becomes of us, I know who I will call if I ever need anyone. And I'll know who to talk to if I find out I have an admirer in the Shadow World." Says Zach, followed by a laugh.

"Here, here." They all exclaim at the same time.

"Wow, synchronised." Jenny says, surprised.

"Didn't you notice that we're best friends?" Dee asks me.

"Yes, I did actually. And I've known it all along."


End file.
